Lovin’ Lately II

Happy happy Friday, my friends!!

Here are some things I’ve been drooling over, obsessing over and all out lovin’ lately.

Grilled Tomato and Herb Bread << Such an easy weeknight meal and a great way to use up those extra juicy and ripe tomatoes that are overflowing in everyone’s garden.

My Big Family Renovation << Stumbled upon this show on HGTV the other night and literally CANNOT stop watching.  This family is so cute and crazy, I love them!

Moscow Mules << I’m a sucker for after work drinks on the porch and these have been our go-to to make.  All you need is:

• Ice
• 1/4 cup vodka
• 1 tbs. fresh lime juice
• 1/2 cup chilled ginger beer
• 1 lime wedge

(makes 1 glass)

Easy peasy!

Stitch Fix << I just received my fourth or fifth fix and while I didn’t love everything I got, the stylist really listened to what I requested.  I have 3 weddings coming up and so she sent 5 dress options which was awesome!  A couple of them were a little too summery for fall/winter weddings; but I am definitely keeping this one for a wedding coming up in September.  Love the color and the pleating, it’s probably something I wouldn’t have picked out myself.

This Writer’s Leather Chair from West Elm << Brian has a big leather chair in our current apartment that has definitely seen better days.  We’ve been on the hunt for a new one and I am amazed by the high quality and low prices that West Elm has to offer.  I could get lost in that store for a whole day.

Black Trench from Banana Republic << I can’t believe it’s almost coat season, but I have been keeping my eye out for a new trench coat as the one I have currently is from the beginning of college.  I love black trench coats and this one from BA is the perfect length/fit.

The TV Apparently Kid << C’mon… this kid is too cute.

Total Body Bliss Tone It Up Workout

At some point in the weekend I broke on of my toes and it has been swollen all week.  I’ve done a lot of low impact workouts so I don’t irritate it more, and this has been one of my go to.

Now go enjoy your Friday! – Cheers!

Liebster Award

Hi friends!

Genevieve, over at Broke Girl Fitness, nominated me for a Liebster award!  This award is given from bloggers to bloggers that have smaller followers to help promote their blog and get their names out there!

Once you are nominated, you have to meet the following criteria:

• Answer the 10 Liebster questions give to you by the blogger who nominated you
• Select 10 blogs with a small following to nominate for the award
• Create 10 questions for your nominees
• Link back to your nominator
• Inform each of your nominees of your nomination

Simple as that!  Thanks, Genevieve for the nomination.  Be sure to check out her awesome fitness tips over at Broke Girl Fitness and see the answers to her questions below!

 

1.  You are going to be stranded on a deserted island for a year and you are allowed to bring 3 pieces of exercise equipment.  What would you bring?

• Yoga mat – To stay off the hot sand and use as a possible flotation device to get off the island.  Do they float?  Oh and to practice yoga, of course 🙂
• FitBit – To see if being by an ocean really does improve sleep.  And to track all my awesome steps since I’m stranded on an island
• Soccer Ball – I would have plenty of time to practice my sweet moves and also so I could have a friend. WILSON!!!!!!!!!!

2.  What is your summer cocktail?

• Anything with Gin in it.  You all know I’m rocking the Watermelon Gin Fizz right now!

3.  What time did you get up this morning?

• 5:30 a.m. – yaawwwnnn.

4.  Where would you retire?

• Tough question.  Since I plan on being rich one day, I want to have multiple homes.  But I believe my home base will be in Hilton Head Island, SC.  It’s one of my favorite places in the world and I would eat fresh shrimp daily.

5.  Sweet or salty?

•  Salty.

6.  What was your dream career growing up?

• I wanted to be a professional soccer player just like Mia Hamm

7.  What is your dream job now?

• Retirement?  KIDDING. … wait, am I?

8.  What is your favorite sport to watch vs. play?

• Favorite sport to watch: Football – DAAAAAA BEARS.
• Favorite sport to play: Soccer obv. – See question 6.  Tennis is a close runner up.

9.  If you could invite three people, living or dead over for a party, who would they be?

• Brian – awwww, I know.  Whata lush I am!  But really, the kid knows how to drink and is very conversational.  I’m the awkward one in this relationship, so he needs to be there.
• Kaley Cuoco – She is funny and shares my passion for dog rescues and pitbulls.  We would have so much to talk about!
• Mindy Kaling – I like to surround myself with people who are just as awkward as me. – Yes, I realize Brian would be the only man at this party, but I don’t think he would complain 😉

10.  If someone’s underwear was showing, would you tell them?

• I guess it depends on the context of the situation.  I want to say yes, but I can definitely think of some instances I wouldn’t.  ie: If I walked by a drunk kid in Wrigleyville passed out on the grass or if it was a little child whose parents might think it was super creepy if I said something, etc.

That’s it folks!  Here are my nominations:

1. StateEats by Katharine
2. Sweet Endeavors by Erica
3. Miles for Thought by Ani
4. The Sideache by Kari
5. Forage & Bloom by Meg
6. Shh… Fit Happens by Sarah
7. The Trendy Trainer by Caroline
8. The Hungry Running Girl by Janae
9. Windy City Running Girl by Natalia
10. A Trail Runner’s Blog by Scott

My Liebster Questions:

1. If you could visit any place in the world where would it be?
2. Are you a cat or dog person? Or just not a pet person?
3. What is your daily breakfast routine?
4. What is your favorite go-to summer recipe?
5. Where do you go or what do you to do relax and de-stress?
6. What workout fad have you been itching to try?
7. What was your favorite television show as a child?
8. If you could change one thing in this world, what would it be?
9. Where/what is your favorite restaurant?
10. What’s your favorite tech gadget?

Chicago Food/Drink Hot Spots

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

BAHHH.  I wish I was a millionaire for the sole reason that I want to frequent all of these restaurants every night of the week – without getting fat.  In honor of the spring/summer season approaching, here is my HOT SPOT list for Chicago restaurants/bars.  This may need to be a reoccurring post as my taste changes all the time and there are always new and exciting restaurants coming out each week!

I apologize in advance if this post makes your crave sushi, pizza, and slushies at 8:00 a.m. in the morning.

Chicago Restaurants I’m loving lately…

1. Kai Zan

I was first introduced to this amazing sushi place by one of my coworkers who lives in the area.  After my first bite of their famous ‘angry crab’, I was hooked.  Now, I stalk their Instagram feed daily to see what their newest creations are and when they have open tables available.

Note: Double the points – this place is BYOB.

2. Coalfire Pizza

There is something about coal burning ovens that really speaks to me… oh yah and pizza!  This Neapolitan style pizza place has my hands-down favorite margherita pizza in all of Chicago.  It’s something about their thin crispy crust and unique toppings that really make me go weak in the knees.

3. Pastoral

This little artisan wine, cheese and bread shop is just a couple blocks away from my apartment.  I can’t help but stop in every time I pass by and pick up some good stinky cheese and a fresh loaf of bread.  Heaven.

4. Kinmont

She had me at first oyster.  Have I mentioned that oysters are at the top of my list for favorite foods.  The collaborators behind Nellcote and Old Town Social have done it again – great addition to the Chicago restaurant scene.

 

Chicago Restaurants that really speak to me in the summer

1. Piccolo Sogno

You’ve heard me say this before, but Piccolo Sogno is my FAVORITE restaurant of all time.  Especially in the summer.  When you sit on their patio you completely forget your are in a busy city with your first bite of their parpadelle with spiced wild boar ragu.

It should be noted that I am referring to it’s original location on Halsted and Grand Ave.

2. Fish Bar

Another great restaurant that is just minutes from my apartment.  Their patio is in the perfect location for people watching and for dog mingling 🙂

3. Three Aces

Although I have only been to Three Aces once, it is on my list of go-to places for the summer.  Their patio is amazing with a great view of the Sears Tower ( not the Wills Tower, okay!).

4. Parson’s Chicken & Fish

Negroni Slushie.  Outdoor Patio.  Fried Chicken.  Enough said.

 

Chicago Restaurants I NEED to try (speak up if you want to go with me!)

1. Honey Butter Fried Chicken

2. The Radler

3. Cicchetti

4. Fat Rice

 

I need a cocktail… STAT.

1. Billy Sunday

2. The Berkshire Room

3. Chicago Distilling Company

4. Sportsman’s Club

 

You know who to call/text/email if you need a dinner date 😉  Have a fabulous weekend.

HLS13 Recap #1

Why hellloooooooo.

Long time no talk 😉  I’ve been busy busy busy attending the 2013 Healthy Living Summit in Minneapolis!  Since I last posted, I have eaten a lot of food, completed some really great workouts, learned a whole lot about blogging and met a lot of great new friends.  Dare I fit it all in one post?  I don’t think so…

Let’s start with Friday.

Brian and I woke up bright and early – I’m talking 5:00 a.m. to get on the road by 6:00 a.m. so that we would not hit any traffic on our way up to Minneapolis.  The trip west was pretty easy and uneventful…  Bailey loved chillin in the car listening to my sweet playlist and watching all the cows and horses we passed by.

A mere 6.5 hours later, we arrived!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in Minneapolis, which was perfect because we wanted to explore!  After we dropped our bags off in our hotel room, we headed out to find somewhere to grab a late lunch.  ‘Brits Pub’ was just around the corner and they had a great lunch menu and their patio was dog-friendly – sold.  Happy to be finally out of the car, we ordered a round of beers and Bailey downed a couple shots of water.

I was seriously starving and decided to order the mahi mahi tacos on the appetizer menu per the recommendation of our waitress.

They were da bomb – and huge.  I only managed to finish two of these bad boys, but boy did they hit the spot.  I wanted so badly to order a couple more rounds of beer to wash down my tacos, but I was heading to a “Fit-Mingle” at 4:30 p.m. and made the responsible decision to stick to only one 😉

The Fit-Mingle was the first Healthy Living Summit (HLS) activity I attended!  The title of the class was called ‘Trendy Trainer Cardio Chaos’ and from the title alone I knew it was going to be a great workout.  The class was lead by Caroline, a personal trainer from Boston and author of the blog ‘The Trendy Trainer.’  Since it was so nice out, we walked over to a local park where we completed a High-Intensity Interval Circuit.  The intervals included planks, push-ups, crunches, tricep dips (on a park bench), squats, backward lunges and MEGA BURPEES.  Have you ever heard of mega burpees before, because I had not!  They were awesome/also the devil.  Basically you do the jump/squat three times in a row and then the push-up/kick-out three times in a row.

The workout was awesome and the perfect way to kick off the HLS weekend.

Thank you, Caroline!

After all that cardio chaos, I headed back to my hotel room to shower and relax before the evening festivities began.  Also, I wanted to check out all of the goodies the HLS planners put in our swag bags.

Seriously, we will have enough snacks to last us for the next couple of months.

Once I was showered and all beautified, Brian and I headed out to dinner.  I made reservations at a Thai restaurant in the Minneapolis ‘warehouse district’ called Kindee Thai.  I read a lot about that area when doing some restaurant research, but my main reason for choosing it was because it was right across the street from the Gutherie Theatre where the HLS cocktail party would be held later that evening.

I was so happy that the weather stayed gorgeous all day because we were able to once again enjoy a meal outside.  I ordered a glass of pino noir and chose the vegetable stir-fry with chicken and brown rice as my entree.

Both were absolutely delicious.

The cocktail party was a lot of fun.  It was the first time I was able to mingle with all the other bloggers that were attending the conference and enjoy a glass of wine or two!  Unfortunately, I was too busy chatting that I forgot to take any pictures except for one of the photo booth copies I took home with me (I know, a really good blogger would never forget to take pictures – fail!).

When we arrived at the venue, each of us received a note card with a word on it.  The word was either half a famous “pair” or part of a famous “trio”.  The objective was to find your other half!  My notecard said ‘Bonnie’ on it, so it was pretty obvious that I needed to find ‘Clyde’.  This was how I met Kim, the blogger at ‘Health Nest’.  The cocktail party went on until about 10:00 p.m. and when it was over, everyone was bused back to the hotel.  Since we were on vacation, Brian and I decided to head back out and grab one more drink before going to bed.  Reason #1 of 50493 that I love Minneapolis – everywhere is dog friendly!  We literally took Bailey to the bar with us and people loved it!

Day 1 was a success!  Can’t wait to recap the rest of the weekend for you, have an awesome Monday 🙂

Perfect Running Days

Perfect running days.

This weekend has been full of absolutely perfect running days.

Friday afternoon, I took my sister, Kristan, out to dinner before she headed back to the burbs.  We stopped by ROCKS in Lakeview because they have a good variety of lunch options, and they have a great outdoor patio area.  Kristan and I both ordered wraps, which were absolutely delicious.  Mine came with Chicken, Lettuce, Goat Cheese and Red Onions all wrapped in a light tomato tortilla.  It also came with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing, but I opted to have in on the side because I feel like dressings more often than not just make wraps soggy.

This baby was gone in a flash – we worked up quite the appetite after our morning run.

The rest of my Saturday was spent doing some light shopping and hanging out with this girl…

She is a huge fan of my BIC Bands 🙂

I ended up meeting a few friends out that evening to grab a little food and enjoy a few alfresco drinks.  I ordered a Moscow Mule for the first time ever and now I am officially obsessed.  So light and refreshing – I love ginger beer!

My cocktail intake was limited to one followed by many glasses of water due to the fact that my friend Lindsay and I were tackling our FINAL long training run Saturday morning.

I set my alarm for 5:00 a.m. and woke up feeling great!  The weather was warm, with a slight breeze and a picture perfect blue bird sky.  When Lindsay got to my house, we didn’t really have a route in mind so we just decided to run south for an hour and then run back up north for an hour.

The run down south was great – nice and shaded.  Since I had been gone from work since Wednesday, we had a lot to catch up about and talked pretty much the whole way down.  We made our turn east right before the river on Grand and then turned up north on the lakeshore path.  It was really fun running through the streets in the River North area because we don’t do it … like ever.  Since we were running so early to “beat the heat”, no one was around in the downtown area so we didn’t have to dodge any walkers.

The lakeshore path, however, was a whole different story.  SO MANY RUNNERS!  It was awesome!  There were also local runners associations that had set up hydration stops along the path with water and gatorade which was much appreciated by everyone who was out.  I couldn’t believe how calm the lake was.  There were a lot of athletes training for triathlons out taking full advantage of the perfect water conditions.

We too full advantage of taking pictures 🙂

Although it was extremley sunning on the run back up, it was still a lot of fun and the run really flew by.  We weren’t really paying attention to our pace, just enjoying our surrounding a totally grateful that mother nature has graced us with awesome summer days.

Once the run ended, Lindsay and I parted ways and I headed straight to the grocery store to pick up some recovery treats.  Bagels and Coconut Water. Yummm Yumm

As soon as I got home, I stretched showered and headed back to my friends rooftop to soak in the sun with my best friends.

We didn’t stay out in the sun too too long because we all needed to get pretty for the final birthday celebration that evening 🙂  Since there are so many of us, it’s always a struggle to try and find dates we can all get together, so last night we all celebrate my friend Lauren’s 24th birthday and my 25th birthday!

The celebration started at my friends new apartment with a few pre-dinner cocktails…

We then headed straight to Cantina Laredo in River North where we feasted on Mexican food and delicious drinks!

Let’s be honest… the best part about going to a Mexican restaurant is the drinks, right?

And the chips and salsa!

It was a wonderful celebration, I’m truly blessed to have such great friends!

Frosting and Fireworks

Hello!

What a BEAUTIFUL day in Chicago to have a birthday!  That’s right… I’m officially 25… 1/4 of the way to 100.

I can also now legally rent a car 😉

The past few days have revolved around a lot of eating, drinking and celebrating.

Wednesday evening, my girlfriends and I headed up to Ravinia to see that Matchbox 20/Goo Goo Dolls concert.  It was awesome!  The concert was a sold out show, so my mother was able to give me her “members only” pass which got me into the venue a half hour earlier than general admission.  This was clutch because there were 7 of us and we needed a larger picnic space!

My friends and I brought lots of goodies including cheese, meats, crackers, a delicious smoked salmon dip (you like that xtina?), Chinese chicken salad, brownies, pasta salad and so much more!  And of course – 4-5 bottles of wine which we much needed.

The concert was the perfect way to kick off the holiday/birthday weekend.  Good times and great friends!

Yesterday was my FAVORITE day of the entire year!  I love the 4th of July more than my birthday!  Every year, all of my family/family friends flock to my parents house to watch the Arlington Heights parade and spend the afternoon eating/drinking and swimming at their pool.

This year, all of my hometown best friends we able to come which I was so thrilled about because it’s really hard to get us all together in one spot.

Actually, we were missing one… shout out to Carly in NYC!!

After the parade was over, we all headed into the backyard where the real party began.  My parents presented a very impressive spread of BBQ pulled chicken, 2 whole smoked turkey and lots of sides that other people brought as well.

So. much. food.

My family from West Virginia is in town and it was so much fun catching up with them and day drinking.  Whenever we all get together, we pretty much spend about 90% of our time just eating and catching up.  Literally – there is always something out to snack on – oh, the Italians.

Around 4:00 p.m., people started to part ways, but not before my mom brought out a monster birthday cake!  No, she did not bake this herself (sorry mom), but it was delicious!

I have never really been a huge cake fan, I’m more of a pie girl, but i do love FROSTING.  This frosting was da bomb!

Once everyone left and it was just my family, I opened all of the presents they got for me.  My family was so generous this year – I loved everything!

My West Virginia/Ohio family got me a Garmin watch, my sister got me an adorable leather purse from Florence, Italy, and my parents got me some cooking items I have been dying to have!

All in all, it was an amazing 4th of July/birthday celebration.  Bailey was exhausted!

How did you spend the 4th of July?